The Law of Liberty

On my way to finding something else, I discovered the following: In classical Greek thinking, Liberty is not possible without Law. The law gives us the limits in which liberty is both sought (by individuals) and given (by the city-state). In other words, in a Classical Greek perspective, liberty outside of law doesn’t even make …

Towers, Ladders, and Muddled Metaphors

I received an email in response to my most recent essays (“The Self-Discipline of Faith,” and “Pelagius – Beyond the Jargon”) from Romanos, an Orthodox reader, who was shocked at my evident ignorance of John Climacus, one of the most important spiritual writers in Orthodoxy. In truth I have a draft of an abandoned essay …

The Self-Discipline of Faith

The classic biblical text on Christian self-discipline, in my opinion, is 1 Cor 9:24-27. [24] Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. [25] Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive …

Pelagius – Beyond the Jargon

Pelagius was a fifth century monk who probably would have been forgotten were it not for the herculean efforts of Augustine of Hippo to publicize his writings for the sole purpose of condemning him. For a while Pelagius’ teachings were the “flavor of the month” in North Africa, and because of Augustine’s sustained critique, a …

A Bit More About Works Apart from Grace

After reading my essay on Sophrony and Jung, my sister sent me a link to a very good article over at the Steadfast Lutherans site entitled, Let Us Say Goodbye to Ladder Theology! It's a good essay on grace from an anti-Pelagian perspective. It punctuates the issue I raised about our tendency toward do-it-yourself salvation. …

Getting Things in the Proper Order

I'm currently reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Marlow, the narrator, is describing Kurtz, a mysterious central character who we haven't even met yet, although we're 2/3 of the way through the story: Everything belonged to him--but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of …

What Can Possibly Be Better than the Kentucky Derby?

(And this post is written by somebody who used to live in Louisville!!!) This summer a horse named Arrrrr! is running at Saratoga Race Track and listening to the announcer is hilarious. (The links are to YouTube videos, by the way.) I first heard this first one on the Dan LeBatard radio show (and laughed …

Elder Sophrony and Carl Jung

This is eventually going to be an essay about the Orthodox Christian monk, Elder Sophrony, and one of the most famous sayings he ever uttered. But before we get to him, I need to put my ideas into context by commenting on the influence of Carl Jung in the modern world. Jung might be described …

Constitution? Schmonstitution! (But only in the best sense of the word!)

One of the speakers at the Missouri River Conference we attended last weekend was Mike Lawson, formerly a historian for the National Park Service and currently a partner in a Washington DC public policy consulting firm, but best known for his book, Dammed Indians: The Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux (recently revised as …

Classical Liberalism: A Summary

[This essay is a summary to date of my thinking on Classical Liberalism and the Church. I am writing this as a precursor to some thoughts about Carl Jung, which will come soon in another essay.] The thesis in much of my recent writing under the category of "Liberty" has been twofold. First, American politics …